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Game 38: Blues Give No Ground

Posted Apr 6, 2013
by Shawn Mitchell
| 0 comments

The Blue Jackets ended a two-game, two-day trip through Nashville and St. Louis with a 3-1 loss to the Blues in Scottrade Center tonight.

One goal has been enough for the Jackets to take two points once before (it was actually zero goals; the Jackets beat Phoenix 1-0 in a shootout last month after 65 scoreless minutes). But their lone goal tonight -- a short-sided snipe by Artem Anisimov –was not going to get it done against the Blues, who got goals from Chris Stewart (power play), David Backes (even strength, sliding on his backside) and Patrik Berglund (empty net, one second remaining) and delivered a stinging blow to the Jackets’ playoff hopes.

“I think we knew we were going to have to score more than one goal to win this hockey game,” Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson said. “It’s going to be tough. This was a big game. It doesn’t leave us a lot of room for error.”

The Blues began the day in eighth place with a 40 points in 35 games, one point in front of Edmonton (39 in 37) and Columbus (39 in 37). St. Louis jumped into seventh for a bit after the win but returned to where it started when Detroit (43 points in 38 games) beat Colorado in overtime in Denver. But the Blues increased their lead over the Jackets and Oilers to three points. They have two games in hand on the Jackets and one on the Oilers.

But the only number that matters is zero, as in the points the Jackets earned tonight, coach Todd Richards said. Ten games remain. Points, no matter who they are earned against, are more valuable than petrified dragon eggs.

“It was an opportunity to get points,” Richards said. “It wasn’t about passing them or anything like that. It’s as simple as that.”

A scoreless first period was a mostly slogging affair as both teams found their legs after playing – and winning – on Thursday night. Blues goalie Jake Allen was stout early, saving two doorstep tries by Cam Atkinson and making a gutsy – and correct – decision to dart from his crease an poke-check a breakaway chance from the stick of Marian Gaborik.

Allen had barely settled into his crease for the start of the second period when he snuffed out another prime chance, denying Mark Letestu on a short-handed breakaway less than a minute after the period began. Jackets defenseman Adrian Aucoin made a similar play at the eight-minute mark, sweeping the puck from the stick of Vladimir Tarasenko with a well-timed jab of the stick that snuffed out a dangerous-looking 2-on-1 rush.

Then, the Jackets got into penalty trouble. They killed off a hooking minor on Cam Atkinson at 12:24, but defenseman James Wisniewski was whistled for tripping as Atkinson was exiting the box.

Stewart, unmarked at the front of the net, scored at 15:58 after a pinpoint feed from Alex Pietrangelo.

“We got into penalty trouble in the second period and it eventually bit us,” Richards said.

But Anisimov bit back, beating Allen at 18:36 with a zipping writer didn’t rise as planned but instead caromed off the inside of the goalie’s pad and into the net.

It was Anisimov’s 10th goal. The Blues retook the lead before it was announced.

Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky won the ensuing faceoff, directing the puck back to Wisniewski, who misfired into the neutral zone. Alexander Steen pounced on the puck, and came ripping down the wall at the edge of a 3-on-2. Jaden Schwartz and Backes converged on it, where Backes lost his footing but, sliding on his backside, swept the puck toward the net of Sergei Bobrovsky.

Bobrovsky was perhaps not fully prepared for such an improbable shot. He squeezed his pads as the puck trickled under him.

The goal was all the Blues would need. Cam Atkinson appeared to tie the score at 2 with a slap shot from the right circle at 6:40 of the third but the goal was waved off after Matt Calvert was deemed to have interfered with Allen. Atkinson said Calvert, sandwiched between Allen and defenseman Roman Polak, made no contact with Allen until after the puck was in the net, although he was clearly in the crease. Whether he wound up there by his own accord is debatable.

“We’ve had too many of those now,” Richards said of three disallowed goals in five games, all of which involved Calvert. “Looking at the replay, (Polak) either pushes him back or doesn’t allow him to get out of the crease. It was unfortunate, obviously. Very disappointed by the call. It could have went the other way very easily, I thought. “

Atkinson was blunt.

“I thought it was a brutal call,” he said. “They made couple bad calls. As soon as I shot it, the goalie didn’t move till the puck came in and out. They were quick to pull the trigger on that call.”

Allen made eight of his 26 saves in the third period . The last one, on Dubinsky, was the only shot the Jackets took after a Barret Jackman hooking infraction put them on the power play with 1:40 left. Bobrovsky skated off with 1:04 to go, but the Blues held on. Berglund scored into the empty net with one second remaining.

The Jackets outshot the Blues 27-18. It was the fourth time in the past 16 games the Jackets have taken more shots than their opponent.

“I didn’t mind our effort,” Richards said. “We did some good things. It was a game that probably deserved a better fate, as far as at least getting a point. But we didn’t. We made some costly mistakes that ended up in the back of our net and their goalie made some timely saves.”

Side dishes

--Blue Jackets defenseman Nikita Nikitin suffered a hard hit along the boards from Vladimir Sobotka with six seconds remaining in the second period and did not return for the third. Richards said Nikitin has an upper body and will be reevaluated on Saturday. He is questionable for Sunday. The Blue Jackets demoted Cody Goloubef after the game began but Goloubef was slated to return with the team to Columbus. He seems likely to remain for a game against Minnesota on Sunday in Nationwide Arena.

--Gaborik assisted Anisimov’s goal, playing the puck to his former Rangers teammate behind the net before running interference in front. He has three points, six shots and a plus-one rating through two games with the Jackets.

--Blues coach Ken Hitchcock’s assessment of his former team: “They're a real good team. It was a tough game. It was tough for them, tough for us. They're a really good team. They've added a ton of depth. They have maybe one first-year player. Everybody else are veteran guys that know how to play the game the right way. They’ve got a belief in the way they play.”

--Richards said the Blues took some physical liberties in a scrum-filled game. “Without question you could see that,” he said. “I think it was because there was one guy out of our lineup. Our players took note of that. We play them again and I’m not expecting anything different from them. I thought our guys handled it fine. We knew it was going to be like that. They’ve got a couple big guys over there.”

--The Jackets will take Saturday off. They’ll be back on the ice for a pregame skate on Sunday morning.

--Our Michael Arace was in Pittsburgh tonight, catching up with the visiting Rangers and the former Jackets who dot the New York roster. Look for his coverage in Saturday and Sunday editions of The Dispatch.

--Right wing Blake Comeau made his Jackets debut, skating on the fourth line with center Mark Letestu and Derek MacKenzie. He played 8:04 and was credited with two hits.

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